1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a method for depositing silicon-containing materials, and more particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to chemical vapor deposition processes utilizing photoexcitation techniques to deposit silicon based dielectric materials, such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon, and other silicon materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of silicon-containing materials, such as silicon nitride, is a front end process used during the manufacture of semiconductor devices. For example, in a thermal CVD process for depositing silicon nitride, thermal energy is utilized for decomposing one or more feedstock chemicals, which includes a silicon precursor, to make a thin film of a silicon nitride on a substrate surface. Conventional thermal CVD processes of silicon-containing materials are typically performed in a batch furnace or a single wafer deposition chamber operating at elevated temperatures typically in excess of 550° C. As device geometries shrink to enable faster integrated circuits, the thermal budget for deposited films must be reduced in order to obtain satisfactory processing results, good production yield and robust device performance. Although some thermal CVD processes for silicon-containing materials having deposition temperatures of less than 550° C. have been proposed, the processes usually lack suitable production worthiness for large scale semiconductor device fabrication. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes have also been developed for depositing silicon-containing materials, such as silicon nitride and silicon oxide. While ALD processes have enabled a reduction in processing temperatures of about 550° C., film growth rates are usually extremely slow and therefore cost prohibiting for commercial fabrication.
Thus, there is a need for an improved method of depositing silicon-containing materials, such as silicon, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and silicon oxynitride, at a temperature of less than about 550° C. while maintaining a high growth rate.